1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a retractable steering mechanism including a steering wheel that is retracted from a driver before contact with the driver in a car accident.
2. Related Prior Art
Various devices, alone or in combination, have been used to dissipate shocks that would otherwise be transmitted to drivers in vehicles in car accidents. However, in a car accident, the driver might still hit the steering wheel due to the moment of inertia and get hurt.
To prevent drivers from hitting steering wheels, airbags have been provided in cars for inflation in car accidents. However, an airbag is quickly inflated by explosive air or other explosive gases in a car accident, and the quick or sudden inflation of the airbag exerts a large force against a driver so that the driver might be hurt by the airbag.
In addition, it is to be noted that the steering wheel is located right in front of the driver closely, and the distance between the steering wheel and the driver is too short for the inflation of the airbags so that the quick or sudden inflation of the airbags may exert a large force against the driver and cause injury to the driver.
There have been devices for retracting steering wheels in car accidents. In these conventional devices, the steering wheels are however retracted from drivers only after they are hit by the drivers. The drivers still take heavy blows from the steering wheels.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in prior art.